MC Hammer spoke at Stanford University’s Graduate School Of Business Entrepreneur Week back in 2010.  Did that sentence shock you?  Well, the artist best known for the 1990 hit song “U Can’t Touch This” (and possibly also for those oddly cut, oversized pants) is also a self-described serial entrepreneur who has been everything from racehorse stable owner and record label mogul to CEO of an MMA fighter management firm.

I must admit that surprised me.

Hammer’s had a fascinating life with fame, business ventures, bankruptcy, and finding his faith, and now you can watch a fascinating video of him speaking to Stanford grad students – MC Hammer: Role Of Social Media In Marketing.

It may shock you to learn that Hammer has a ton of great ideas for how social media applies to marketing, start-ups, and much more.

He is genuinely passionate about social media and the empowerment that it brings us all.  And he points out the power that brands have to control the narrative of what comes out about them via social channels (at about 8:45 in the video).

“I like working with great companies, I like working with distressed companies.  Distressed companies need social media to tell their story, to regain ground, to communicate their message – there’s a great opportunity in that.”  And a bit later:

“If you’re actually telling the story yourself – the transparency – it extinguishes the initial effect of breaking news.”

That cottons with what we at AboutFace have been saying, and doing, for years.  Check out the video for Hammer’s philosophies on all things social media (and especially his David Letterman example of how to get out front of bad news that’s coming).  He’s an interesting man and you may be shocked at how much we can all take away from his lecture.

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Check out this excellent article from PBS MediaShift writer (and filmmaker) Amanda Lin Costa.  It’s a great little journey into the tough question facing independent filmmakers on how best to release their films to get the most viewers – and recoup the most money possible – in this rapidly shifting landscape.

With theatrical release often cost-prohibitive, DVD sales declining for years, and digital options exploding but not always tested-and-true, all the filmmakers I know are trying to figure out the new release windows and strategies.  Edward Burns went digital with his latest, Newlyweds – to great success.  Kevin Smith self-released his Red State, too.  And we all know how, while a slightly different kind of product, comedian and filmmaker Louis C.K. did with his most recent stand up special.

If you check out Ed or Kevin’s Twitter feeds, you’ll see how they used social media to promote their work and direct fans to where they can buy it.  (They’re doing that whole thing we’ve been talking about at AboutFace for years – make the content, then get word out via social channels.)

Perhaps this article from Amanda Lin Costa will serve as a helpful source of information or even a guide for those of us with films to release this year.  I know it’s given me some food for thought for my next one.

Here’s the opening excerpt.

“Traditionally, there were three main types of distribution for the work of independent filmmakers: theatrical, broadcast and straight to DVD. Most filmmakers hoped for a combination of all three.

But everything has changed. The digital online world has opened up new avenues of distribution including video on demand, live streaming, and mobile and tablet applications.

Indie filmmakers are harnessing these digital forms of distribution to increase their audience and maintain control of their film, but the “how and where” their film is viewed, the financial recovery of production costs, and their eligibility for awards all factor into their choices.”

Know what was terrible?  The movie Mac N Me (1988), although the impromptu dance scene in a McDonalds is pretty amazing as far as low moments in cinema history goes.  But you know what is not terrible at all?  What Kraft has been doing lately.  Some really cool stuff.  Very interactive, very simple and fun – very smart.

Check out what they’ve been up to with this Mashable article.  It might make you smile.  Or dance in a fast food joint.

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Latest And Greatest is a weekly feature highlighting interesting new projects happening in the Social Storytelling space.  Come on back on Wednesdays for new entries, and send us a tip for a new project to highlight at latestgreatest@aboutfacemedia.com.

Not to be outdone by all the huge Google+, and Facebook Video Chat news coming out this week.  Youtube launched a new beta redesign they are calling Cosmic Panda today. I thought something like this might be in the works when I heard rumblings of a black progress bar on their video player.  It’s a Youtube Testtube project where “YouTube engineers and developers test out recipes and concoctions that aren’t quite fully baked and invite you to tell us how they’re coming along.” which means the new features may never fully be implemented but I imagine some version of this will eventually make it’s way across the site.  If fully implemented Cosmic Panda would mark the most significant changes to the viewing experience yet. You can try it out here.

Check out the below screenshots of how channels, playlists, and individual videos appear in Cosmic Panda

How Channels appear in Cosmic Panda

Nice clean designs all around.

Youtube Playlists in Cosmic Panda

I’ve long been a fan of viewing videos along a black background, the UX for individual videos is great too.

Individual Videos on Cosmic Panda

Have you tried Cosmic Panda?  What do you think of the new design?

Dentyne is not afraid of a little double entendre, as evidenced by their tagline “We don’t want you to stop having breath, just have safe breath."

Dentyne Gum’s The Single Life web series is pretty fun, and expertly tailored to offer their target audience a minty piece of entertainment that they can chew up and toss out when the flavor is gone.

Check out ReelSEO’s write up of the series, or watch the pilot episode here.

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Latest And Greatest is a weekly feature highlighting interesting new projects happening in the Social Storytelling space.  Come on back on Wednesdays for new entries, and send us a tip for a new project to highlight at latestgreatest@aboutfacemedia.com.

Lee Aase the director of social media for the Mayo Clinic speaks on the basics of social media in the health care industry and the importance of video content in their efforts.

[Online Marketing Trends]

AboutFace COO, Denise McKee

Now’s your chance to learn from the best in the business.  AboutFace Coo, Denise McKee speaks all over the country.  Catch her when she comes to your neck of the woods.

Chicago, Illinois: August 1 – 4 The Employee Engagement Conference on the University of Chicago campus discussing internal communication social strategy to drive engagement and deliver bottom results.

Atlanta, Georgia: September 19 – 22 at The Social Media for Government Conference.  Learn government specific new media best practices.

San Francisco, California: October 3 – 6 at The Strategic Internal Communications Conference.  Learn how to use social media to engage employees, drive performance and add value.

Mention Denise’s name while registering & receive a $400 discount to all the upcoming events.

Since Google bought Youtube back in 2006, the growth and popularity of the video sharing site has been absolutely astonishing.  Today marks the sixth birthday from the first public beta launch.

To mark the anniversary Youtube released the infographic below on their Facebook page. 48 hours of video are being uploaded to the site every single minute of every single day, and people are watching on average 3 Billion videos a day!

In a two part blog post over at Involver about the growing social presence of Youtube and other video sharing sites highlight a growing trend of companies like Involver that have been traditionally focused on Facebook applications are finally starting to take stake in the powerful medium of online video and the recognition of Youtube as a social channel in and of itself rather than just a place to host content.  While we’ve been saying these things for a long time they do have 7 great tips for those just getting involved that echo the kind of things that we think are imperative to navigating the space.

1. Be authentic – “Online video, like all social media, offers new avenues for brands to connect with their audiences…”

Telling authentic stories is the driving force behind all of our efforts at AboutFace.  All of our videos are unscripted, savvy consumers can tell when someone is just hitting their marketing points.  When people are passionate about what they do, whatever marketing points you’re trying to get across just comes naturally.

2. Go behind the scenes – “One of the things video does really well is to capture great moments that might not be seen otherwise…”

Bringing what you might find mundane to life and telling great stories is what AboutFace does best.  Video is a great place to give exclusive access to the people and places people might not normally see.

3. Be true to your brand – “Making YouTube videos can be tremendously liberating for brands formerly constrained by large budgets and focus groups, but remember that your videos may also be the first impression people get about your brand. So while part of the freshness of online video comes from being less message-conscious than a targeted television campaign, it’s still important to make sure that what you share about your company is consistent with what you’ve conveyed about it elsewhere…”

Online video allows you to hit smaller micro targeted audiences with different messages than say a traditional television campaign.  While the production and distribution model has changed it’s still important to stay consistent, you just have a little more room to experiment.

For Simplicities sake I’ll group their next two tips together.

4. Leverage all your tools/ 5. Make sure your videos are accessible– “Perhaps the most significant difference between online video and television is that online video lives in “the stream.” So while YouTube videos can be viewed on YouTube itself, they are also viewable and shareable in numerous other arenas, including email, web sites, mobile devices, and Facebook. The best online videos can spread rapidly among friends, fans, and work colleagues…”

Make it easy for your viewers to share your video.  Keep in mind that about 90% of your views won’t actually come from your website and will come from elsewhere in the distributed web.

6. Optimize “video is not inherently searchable. However, the words and metadata around it are. This, and the fact that YouTube is actually the second-largest search engine, means that the words you choose to describe your video are very important…”

Understanding the way video is indexed in search is crucial for your videos to be discovered organically.  For now, search is inherently text based, but you can give search engines a hand by telling them what your video is about.  This includes some of the things that Involver talks about like keyword rich titles and descriptions but I would extend that to keywords, locations and transcriptions.  The Youtube Keyword suggestion tool can help give you a better idea of what people are searching for on Youtube and help you generate relevant keywords.

While I won’t assume I know everything about Youtube’s algorithm for ranking videos we can infer that it extends beyond metadata to social based metrics like Subscribers, Friends, Category, How old the video is, Comments, Likes, Embeds, Back Links and Engagement. When marketers neglect Youtube as a viable social channel they are forgoing an opportunity to take advantage of actually being a part of the Youtube community and missing out on a large portion of potential views.

7. Think narrative – “No matter what kind of video you’re making, viewers still respond to the basics, which means that a story, with a beginning, middle, and end, is a powerful and satisfying way for them to learn who you are and what you do. Your video may not be anything like a conventional Hollywood movie, but story elements, including plot, character, conflict, resolution, and moral, remain implicit. Pay attention to the performances of the people speaking and look for authenticity in their delivery. Find the hidden gems and leave the rest on the cutting room floor. If you’re not engaged by it, it’s very unlikely your audience will be. Not only will more people watch your video, they’ll actually remember it and want to share it with others.”

The power of online video storytelling is truly in the editorial process.  I’ll let Ira Glass, of Public Radio fame explain the rest.

You can see the full text of the original posts over at the Involver blog: Part 1 and Part 2.

Ted’s own Chris Anderson gave his own Ted Talk last July on the power of online video and “crowd accelerated innovation.”

“The rise of web video is driving a worldwide phenomenon he calls Crowd Accelerated Innovation — a self-fueling cycle of learning that could be as significant as the invention of print. But to tap into its power, organizations will need to embrace radical openness.”

Ivy Funds is showing how it’s making a difference in the world of financial investment… AND it’s using social storytelling to do so.  AboutFace Media has teamed with 50000feet and Swandog Marketing in showcasing Ivy’s experts as they truly cover the world  - China, India, Canada, U.S. etc. – for a unique insight of the global marketplace.

It all starts with the morning meetings.  Each and every day the Ivy team, lead by CEO Henry ‘Hank’ Herrmann convene in a roundtable discussion.  It’s a rigorous give-and-take as we see in The Piranha Tank, but it’s worth it.  As Hank puts it, “the cream has to rise to the top”.

From the hub of the morning meetings, Ivy Funds portfolio managers travel the world gathering evidence firsthand that will be used to help their customers.  In this story we profile Mike Avery, President of Ivy Funds, as he makes his regular trip to China to study the effects of Global Rebalancing.

Covering the world also means covering the story of Great American Companies.  This story focuses on Portfolio Managers Kim Scott, Dan Becker and CIO and Portfolio Manager Phil Sanders as they travel the United States researching companies that are poised for success.

Portfolio manager Fred Sturm journeys into the frozen tundra of Alberta, Canada to inspect oil reserves. Energy is the world’s number one commodity, and it takes trips like this to find and evaluate it.

Global Director Of Equity Research and Portfolio Manager Zack Shafran visits a plant in central Missouri as he continues his search for innovation and broad application from highway signs in the U.S. to emerging markets.

The people at Ivy Funds are not stopping.  Stay tuned (here and ONLINE) as more IVY people, IVY stories and IVY insight appear.

Denise McKee continues to speak extensively about all things video, content marketing and social media optimization.

October 21, Denise will be in Milwaukee for the Southeast Wisconsin PRSA Chapter meeting you can still buy tickets here.

December 6-9 she’ll be in Las Vegas for another Social Media for Government Conference.  Mention her name and you can save $400 off current registration rates, while in Vegas you’ll learn how To Engage Your Employees And Citizens By Using The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results

March 17 in Chicago; More info TBA.

If you missed her last presentation in Chicago, she drilled down to some great social media tips and tricks that can be applied by anyone looking to connect with markets across multiple channels.

The Golden Rule – “It’s not what we want, it’s what our audience wants”

Know your marketing objectives - and know them in advance.

Know Thy Target Audience – Just as important as knowing your objectives, it’s absolutely crucial that you know who you’re trying to reach before firing your first shot.

Tips for Twitter – A great place to start for marketers getting started using Twitter.

Tips for Youtube – Some basic tips to help you get started optimizing your Youtube channel.

Social Media Do’s and Don’ts: Part 1 – What to do (and not to do) when marketing via social media. Part one of three.

Social Media Do’s and Don’ts: Part 2 – What to do (and not to do) when marketing via social media. Part two of three.

Social Media Do’s and Don’ts: Part 3 – What to do (and not to do) when marketing via social media. Part three of three.

Halo: Reach drops tomorrow, and as you might remember, our own Peter O’Brien had a little something to do with it – he’s the Writing Lead.  The game is already receiving critical acclaim for both it’s game play mechanics and story elements. Reach is unique because, if you’re familiar with Halo it’s a prequel. More specifically, it’s a tragic prequel.

Here’s the epic TV ad that is accompanying the launch – it’s different from most ads because it’s good (Explosions with a story behind them!). As Peter put it in an email to our team, “Watch Full Screen with a box of Kleenex.”

There’s also a longer director’s cut here and an interactive micro-site here (with some intriguing social integration).

As AboutFace‘s resident gamer, I’m duty bound to pick it up (Pre-Ordered!) and give it a whirl.  And I must tell you, since I have a lot of faith in Peter, I’ve got a lot of faith in Bungie’s final installment of one of the most successful video game franchises of all time.

AdAge seems to be echoing what we’ve been talking about for a long time at AboutFace in recently published article titled

“What Happens When Facebook Trumps Your Brand Site”

“For many marketers, their Facebook fan bases have become their largest web presence, outstripping brand sites or e-mail programs either because a brand’s traditional web-based “owned media” is atrophying or because more consumers are migrating to social media.”

Brands are directing consumers to their Facebook page everywhere from commercials to in store signage, so it’s no surprise that Facebook has become the go to destination of seemingly everybody.  41.6% of Americans have a Facebook Page.  Why not send folks to a place they are already spending time and are already very familiar with?

What do you think?  Is it time to ditch your microsite and push your efforts into a comprehensive content marketing strategy with a focus on social media outreach?  Let us know.

Facebook.com/AboutFaceMedia

PRNewsWire reports in a recent GetResponse study that the more social sharing sites link icons the higher a click through rate will be in marketing e-mails.

“Emails that included at least one social sharing option generated over 30 percent higher CTR than emails that did not include any social sharing options.”

That makes sense to me. The inclusion of sharing options add some legitimacy to an e-mail.  If I put myself on the receiving end of an e-mail I know that there is somewhere else on the web that I can vet this company that I may not already be familiar with.

The Article Continues…

“Emails that included at least three social sharing icons generated over 55 percent higher CTR than messages without any sharing options.”

Wow, 55%! three options!  That’s a big number but won’t that be confusing to the person getting the e-mail?  How will they know which one to click on?

We absolutely want to create as many social connections as possible but only your most valuable brand ambassadors are going to subscribe to your e-mail list, like you on Facebook, follow you on Twitter and subscribe to your Youtube channel.  Everyone has their preferred social network, for many it starts and ends with Facebook and that’s fine.  But if your a social media dork like myself it’s a little less formal to follow a company on Twitter and get a dose of what they have to offer aggregated in your normal feed every day.

At this point even the most casual web users have spent enough time on the internet to quickly scan large amounts of data for pertinent information.  If someone isn’t familiar with an icon they simply won’t click on the link in the first place. Who knows? Maybe you will introduce someone to the newest social media start up.

So why are e-mail marketers not taking note?  Your guess is as good as mine.

“60 percent of all social emails included only one sharing icon. Only 11.2 percent of social emails included 3 icons or more.”

If you really believe in your product and know that someone might find your content useful and entertaining, and if someone cares about what you have to say enough to tell a friend..why not make it as easy as possible for them to share it with others on whatever network they prefer no matter how obscure you think social bookmarking is.

Jeremiah Owyang discusses how Levi’s is using Facebook to integrate fans into the buying experience.

How can this integrate into “Shop by Video” on Facebook?  Interesting.  As Mr. Owyang says (and we completely agree)…

“In the future, the difference between social networks and corporate websites will be hard to distinguish.”

Check out this WebProNews interview with Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz.  It is good throughout, but it has a particularly interesting section up front involving Twitter and linking.

“A couple of years ago, when someone would see an interesting piece of content, they would link to it. Today, when this happens, people tweet it. So, what does this mean for link bait?

Fishkin response, “…essentially, Twitter is cannibalizing the Web’s link graph, and it’s doing so in a disproportionate manner for more social media forward industries.”

As an interesting side note, I saw this video a couple of days ago (finding it on Twitter).  I should have blogged it then, because it was hard to find today!

I think it’s time to start blogging more than tweeting.

You’d be surprised, but Twitter isn’t the biggest social platform making news right now – it’s Chatroulette.  A deeply fascinating and sometimes terrifying (read: OMG I didn’t want to see that NSFW part of you) romp into web anonymity, Chatroulette connects two totally random users together via video chat.

The results are truly amazing.  You should definitely check it out – even if the system is tainted by a few…um…perverts.

Enter Merton, a mysterious piano man from somewhere.  His Chatroulette Piano Improv YouTube video has been quite the hit – so much so that our good friend Ben Folds had to put his own stamp on it.

Mashable recently caught up with Merton, and he explained the method to his madness:

Facebook and Twitter have some competition in Google’s new free social networking platform – Google Buzz.  Or at least, they sort of have competition.  Seems Buzz will work together with your Facebook, Twitter, and GMail account.  Until, of course, Google destroys Facebook and Twitter with their company’s superior products and fun-to-say name.

I think I’ve heard and also regurgitated most of the scuttle over Apple’s new ipad device. Is it just a big phone ? Can a niche, intermediate device ever be leveraged for anything that becomes a needed mass engagement tool to people ?

Andrew Pawlowski at the ever-present, sports marketing blog, Digital Hoops Blast poses some good “first glance” questions and dialogue about the device:

“I am not advocating dropping everything you’re doing to head out and plan for the iPad. But I think this should impact the way we think about where things are going. And how people will interact with the things we are creating now.”

Pawlowski has a clever assertion that this device may have delivered us to capability only seen in a fantasy world like the Harry Potter films:

“But to me this could be the closest thing we’ve gotten yet to that amazing Daily Prophet from Harry Potter. You know (see image) the image of looking at the newspaper on a flat screen that also allows you to watch videos and listen to messages.”

Imagine a brand’s message being displayed in this manner with multiple messages put together in a video “magazine”, all coming to life in a “Daily Prophet” like experience?

This past December, The Digital Hoops Blast, featured our friends and client, Marquette University for delivering the #1 College Basketball Marketing in the Big East Conference. About Face Media’s “Marquette Stories” series was an instrumental component in giving the university’s constituents something entertaining to help define their great culture in basketball, and the overall story of the Marquette message.

Video was a big part of this “….inspiring presence online for the Golden Eagles.”

It makes you wonder about the potential of a team’s next big recruit connecting with a program and school culture through their “video magazine/newspaper/media guide” device in the near future.

These Marquette fans can’t wait for the next Superstar like Dwayne Wade to get on board and write their next legendary college basketball story……

Add Digital Hoops Blast to your feeds and readers, it’s an interesting, ongoing analysis of marketing in the sports, event, and entertainment category.